The invention involves a bending machine for sheet-like workpieces, for creating bent edges, having a horizontal workpiece support and having a bending tool that has a bending beam as well as having a hold-down clamp for the workpiece arranged near the bending tool, where the bending machine has at least one manipulator with clamping jaws for holding the workpiece, the clamping jaws have a lower grip and an opposing upper grip that can be moved vertically in the usage position, and the clamping jaws can be moved approximately in the plane of the workpiece or in a parallel plane, transversely or at a right angle to the hold-down clamp of the tool, or can be moved transversely or at a right angle to the tool, and also makes possible a rotation of the workpiece around a vertical axis.
A known bending machine is disclosed in German patent DE 28 39 978 B2. It functions for the purpose of providing a bent edge having a generally right-angled shape on sheet metal pieces. The clamping jaws are moved horizontally below the workpiece support and the workpiece on a carriage transversely or at a right angle to the bending line, i.e. to the workpiece edge to be processed, or transversely or at a right angle to the workpiece. It can thus convey a sheet metal plate, previously held by the clamping jaws, as a workpiece to the bending tool and based on the rotating ability, cause a change in the position of the workpiece in its working plane. In this process, the upper grip can be lifted so that the clamping jaws can be moved away from the bent edge after a bending operation, such that the previously processed workpiece is released. It must then be removed from the clamping jaws or from the bending machine by an additional removal device. In the same manner, feeding into the clamping jaws must also be done with this device itself or with another device or by hand.
By this construction, a limited possibility for feeding and conveying results, and furthermore, the removal of a completed, processed workpiece must also take into account the presence of the clamping jaws and their carriage, i.e. the removal is restricted by the manipulator and its bed below the workpiece support. Furthermore, by this known construction, it is necessary for efficient processing that a workpiece is grasped in its center because otherwise when changing from one processing edge to the next one, i.e. when turning the workpiece, under some circumstances, an opening of the clamping jaws and a relative shift between the clamping members and workpiece is necessary in order to be able to take into account different dimensions of the workpiece in different directions. Based on this, the bending workpiece must also be arranged symmetrically to the movement axis of the clamping jaws.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,558, a shaping machine of another type is known, namely a bending press. In addition, a bending machine or a shearing machine is mentioned in it, but not described in greater detail. In the bending press, a hold-down clamp is not provided, since the sheet metal edges are bent upwards opposite the forging die during the forming process, and thus move upwards relative to the tool. A manipulator functioning for the feeding and positioning the workpiece can also be used in this previously known solution, conducted underneath the workpiece plane and must release the workpiece when the workpiece is formed and it is not designed to follow the formation movements of the workpiece.